Ball rolling game



J an.-28, 1941. B. ca. M cDOUGALL ET AL 2330,064

BALL ROLLING GAME Filed Feb. 11, 1939' 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 28, 1941.B. G. M fDOU G AL IQ'ET AL ,0

BALL. ROLLING GAME 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 11, 1939 H 5am t J Ufl innofwm u eDmw va Z W Patented Jan. 28, 1941 ra'rsu'r mFT iCE BALL ROLLINGGAME Chicago, Ill.

Application February 11, 1939, Serial No. 255,941

3 Claims.

The invention relates to a ball rolling game.

More particularly it relates to an improved bafile or obstacle means tobe located on the ball rolling surface whereby to achieve an interestingeffect for the players amusement and to test his skill in propelling theballs.

Ifhe primary object of the invention is to provide an improved ballrolling game.

Another object is to provide such a game having a spiral railconstruction providing a spiral ball passageway.

Still another object is to provide ball drop openings or pockets in saidspiral passageway arranged or located in a special manner to enhanceamusement values.

It is also an object to provide a ball rebound element at the innerterminal end of the spiral passageway to achieve a novel game effect.

Another object is so to locate ball drop openings in the passageway asto cause balls, they reach a position of equilibrium or rest that theywill automatically fall through a hole or pocket by gravity so as tokeep the passageway at all times clear.

Another object is to provide the spiral passageway on a table slopedslightly from the horizontal so that a propelled ball moving in thepassageway is subjected to centrifugal and gravitational forces toproduce the illusion of an accelerating ball although its linear speedis constant while kinetic energy remains.

Other important objects will become apparent to those skilled in thisart as the disclosure is more fully made.

Briefly, these desirable objects may be achieved in a ball rolling gameof the type comprising a cabinet containing a table sloped slightly fromthe horizontal to provide a ball rolling surface. A ball projector atone side and at the low end of the table is used forcibly to propel afairly heavy ball into the outer edge of a spiral passageway provided onthe higher end of the table by rail members. A ball thus can be rolledaround the spiral passageway inwardly toward the center of the spiral,said ball hugging the outer edge of the passageway by virtue of thecentrifugal force developed. As a result, While such force issufficiently strong, the ball will miss holes formed through the tablein said passageway along its inner edge. At the low loop side of eachspiral form such a hole is placed a distance, from the rail forming thespiral, equal to substantially onehalf the diameter of the ball. Itfollows, therefore, when a ball has spent its energy that it must cometo rest by gravity at the low side of a loop and thus must fallbygravity through the proximate hole in the board to keep the spiralpassage always clear of balls that would obstruct same if not socleared.

The improved game structure is illustrated in one practicable form inthe accompanying sheets of drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a general plan view of the improved game;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through the game taken alongthe line 2--2 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 3 is a detail, sectional View taken along the line 3--3 of Figure1 to show the terminal bumper; and,

Figure 4 is a cross sectional View taken along the line 4-4 of Figure 1to show in detail a portion of the rail structure forming the spiralpassageway.

The improved game is housed in a conventional cabinet it having a frontwall III and carrying in its upper portion a table it sloped slightlyfrom the horizontal so that balls rolled onto the high end of the ballrolling surface provided by the table Will have a tendency togravitate,when the propelling force is spent, toward the low end of the table, orin the direction of the front wall l I. The cabinet top is closed by theusual glass cover 53. The front wall ii at one side thereof, carries amanually operable ball shooting plunger It of well known form, toproject balls one at a time, such as the ball l5 shown in Figure 1,along a projection passageway formed by the side wall of the cabinet anda parallel partition member It carried on the table all in a manner wellknown in this art.

Below the table 13 the cabinet carries a ball routing panel ll slopedfrom the horizontal to enable balls received thereon to gravitate in thedirection of the front wall ii and into a cross trough 18, which in thewell known way slopes transversely in the direction of the side wall ofthe cabinet which is proximate the projector l4. Said side wall has itsinner face formed with an upwardly and forwardly extending groove isinto which balls from the trough gravitate one at a time to enable aball lifter member iii of standard construction to be moved about itspivot 2! by a manually operable plunger member 2?. also carried in thefront wall l l.

The upper or higher end of the table i2 carries a spiral rail structure23 elevated a suitable distance, such as half the diameter of a ball tobe rolled, above the table. Said spiral rail is helically coiledinwardly toward its terminal end designated at 24 thus to form a spiralpassageway as shown. The entrance to the spiral passage begins at thedischarge end of the ball projection passage formed by the partition 16so that a ball projected by the projector l4 must enter the spiralpassage and travel the course inwardly in a counterclockwise direction,provided by the rail structure 23.

The spiral passage, it will be noted, is of uniform width, which widthis considerably more than the diameter of the ball l5 used, so that whena ball is forcibly projected into the spiral passage, the centrifugalforce will cause the ball to hug the outer rail 23 of the passage. Thusthe centrifugal force is used to advantage in locating certain holes orpockets 25 at the high loops of the rail but at the low side of thepassage at the points mentioned. It can be seen that if a ball isentering the spiral passage with suflicient momentum the centrifugalforce holds the ball outwardly tomiss said holes 25 thus enabling theball to continue its travel circumferentially inwardly toward the pointabout which the helix is generated.

In the spiral passageway along a transverse diameter as viewed in Figure1, the slope of the table makes the force of gravity a consideration,especially if the centrifugal force of a rolling ball is spent, andtherefore along this line it will be observed that holes 26 are providedin the table, in each loop of the spiral passage, but these holes arespaced a slight distance in an outward direction away from the innerrail portion at the points mentioned. These holes 26 are thus positionedto trap a down hill rolling ball losing, or having lost, its centrifugalforce and therefore unable to hug the outer rail side of the spiralpassage.

Some balls moving around the spiral passageway will lose their momentumand finally come to rest, or equilibrium at the low point of the variousloops, it being remembered that the table l2 slopes downwardly towardthe front wall H. To clear balls coming to rest at these low points ofthe several loops of the spiral, a series of holes 2'! is formed throughthe table in the spiral passageway. Each of these holes 21 is spaced adistance away from the low rail side of each loop, a distance equal toabout one half the diameter of a ball used so that when a ball rollsaround a loop with sufiicient momentum, the centrifugal force holds theball outwardly against the rail to keep clear of the holes 27 in amanner readily understandable. Each said hole has a forwardly cut kerf28 arranged in the table so that a ball coming to rest at these pointsbecomes unbalanced and falls through the holes 21 to clear thepassageway.

At or near the terminal inner end of the spiral passageway is arranged aresilient bumper obstacle 29 preferably made of live rubber so that aball hitting same may rebound. In the final inner loop of the spiralpassageway adjacent rail part 24 is formed a hole 30 through the tableto permit a ball losing momentum and missing the bumper 29 to be trappedand fall through the table I2.

Thus, it will be seen that all balls entering the spiral passageway willfind an outlet through one or another of the holes described and drop toa position below the table.

Because of the action of gravity, balls rolling down the table I! on thedownside of the spiral passageway, which is at the left in Figure 1,since the balls travel counterclockwise, there is an apparent, if notactual acceleration in the speed of travel of the balls. To keep ballsconfined in the passageway, especially in the outer loop thereof, theouter rail part of the lower half of said loop carries an upper railpart 3|. The entire spiral rail structure may be constructed of separateshort arcuate sections as shown in Figure 1 to simplify manufacture andassembly and the joints between adjacent sections may be smooth toencourage faster travel of a ball around the passageway, or by havingthe said joints slightly offset a retarding effect on the speed oftravel of a ball can be achieved.

When balls fall through the holes in the table l2 they are received bythe ball routing panel I! which may be formed with appropriate alleygrooves such as the one shown at 32 in Figure 2. In such grooves may belocated one or more rollover spring blade switches for an electricalcircuit, not shown, to operate a conventional score keeping mechanism.These alleys 32 will be suitably arranged to receive balls from thevarious holes in the game table and the positioning of the switches 33can be used to take care of a different score value for each of theholes in the well known manner.

Balls rolling down the panel I! enter the cross chute l8 and the groove19 so that the lifter 24] can function to lift them one at a time to aposition on the table l2, where they can be propelled by the projectorI4.

The use and operation of the game structure is now perfectly plain fromthe above description and it can now be seen that an improved bal1rolling game has been provided, which achieves all of the desirableobjects heretofore recited.

It is the intention to cover herein all such changes and modificationsof the example shown for the purposes of the disclosure, which do not inmaterial respects constitute departures from the spirit and scope of theinvention.

What is claimed is:

1. For a ball rolling game having a table sloped slightly from thehorizontal and including means to propel a ball onto the surface of thetable, an obstacle means comprising a spiral rail structure carried onthe table and providing a spiral passageway open at its outer diameterto receive a ball propelled onto the table, all convolutions of thespiral passageway lying in the plane of the table surface, saidpassageway providing a series of loops to cause a ball having thenecessary momentum to roll around the passageway toward the center orpoint of generation of said spiral rail structure, said rail structureat said point forming a pocket on the table with a hole in said pocketformed through the table, and a resilient bumper element separate fromthe terminal end of the spiral rail and carried on the table closelyadjacent the inner terminal end of the spiral passageway in advance ofthe hole and spaced therefrom so that a ball may either pass the bumperelement for delivery through said hole or hit the element for reboundfrom said pocket.

2. For a ball rolling game having a table sloped slightly from thehorizontal and including means to propel a ball onto the surface of thetable, an obstacle means comprising a spiral rail structure carried onthe table at a level thereabove to permit a ball to ride centrifugallythereagainst and providing a spiral passageway open at its outerdiameter to receive a ball propelled onto the table with allconvolutions of the spiral passageway lying in the plane of the tablesurface, and an auxiliary superposed rail carried above the lower halfportion of the outer loop of the spiral rail structure.

3. For a ball rolling game having a table sloped slightly from thehorizontal and including means to propel a ball onto the surface of thetable, an obstacle comprising a spiral track structure carried on thetable and providing a spiral passageway open at its outer diameter toreceive a ball propelled onto the table, all convolutions of the spiralpassageway lying in the plane of the table surface, the portions of thetrack structure at the low side of the sloped table having a greaterheight than the portions thereof at the high side of the table, saidpassageway providing a series of loops to cause a ball having thenecessary momentum to roll around the passageway toward the center orpoint of generation of said spiral track structure, said track structureat said point forming a pocket on the table with a hole in said pocketformed through the table, and a resilient bumper element disposed insaid pocket closely adjacent the inner terminal end of the spiral trackstructure but in advance of said hole and spaced therefrom so that aball may either pass the bumper element for delivery through said holeor hit the element for rebound from said pocket.

BON G. MACDOUGALL.

HERBERT G. BREITENSTEIN.

